Prefabricated, insulated, metal wall panel

ABSTRACT

A prefabricated, insulated, metal wall panel of foamed polyurethane or the like having an exterior metal wall panel portion laterally offset from an interior metal wall portion and so constructed that when identical panels are joined side-by-side by two pairs of male and female detachable fasteners, said panels will remain in spaced insulating relationship, whereby cold or hot outside temperatures will not be conducted from the exterior panels to the interior panels.

United States Patent 1191 Widdowson Mar. 19, 1974 [5 1 PREFABRICATED,INSULATED, METAL 3,667,180 6/1972 Tischuk 52/483 WALL PANEL 3,714,7472/1973 Curran 52/595 [75] Inventor: R. Donald Widdowson, Pittsburgh,FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 430.131 8/1967 Switzerland 52/483 [73]Assignee: Elwin G. Smith Division-Cyclops Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa.Primary ExaminerI-lenry C. Sutherland Filed: g 1972 AssistantExaminer-James L. Rldglll, Jr.

Appl. No.: 279,469

[52] US. Cl 52/595, 52/403, 52/619 [51] Int. Cl. E04c 2/13, E04c 2/26[58] Field of Search 52/595, 619, 483, 394,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,912,725 11/1959 Ries52/619 3,386,218 6/1968 Scott 3,535,844 10/1970 Glaros 52/619 5 7]ABSTRACT A prefabricated, insulated, metal wall panel of foamedpolyurethane or the like having an exterior metal wall panel portionlaterally offset from an interior metal wall portion and so constructedthat when identical panels are joined side-by-side by two pairs of maleand female detachable fasteners, said panels will remain in spacedinsulating relationship, whereby cold or hot outside temperatures willnot be conducted from the exterior panels to the interior panels.

1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figures PREFABRICATED', INSULATED, METAL WALL PANELThis invention relates to a prefabricated, insulated, metal wall paneland, more particularly, to one that is foamed-in-place by polyurethaneor similar plastic material.

An outstanding disadvantage of presently used metal wall panels withinsulated fillers is that after the panels are fastened together,side-by-side, such as by male and female connections on the exterior andinterior panels, there is a metallic connection between the exterior andinterior walls which readily conducts cold temperatures in winter timeor hot temperatures in summer time tending to cause discomfortinteriorly of the building. Also condensation, in winter, caused by coldinterior walls will take place.

An object of my invention is to provide a novel insulated wall panelwhich is prefabricated with integral fastening elements on the metalpanels to enable sideby-side connection and yet which is so constructedas toeliminate the abovementioned disadvantages of conventional wallstructures.

A more specific object of my invention is to provide a foamed-in-placewall panel having metallic exterior and interior panels which will bemaintained in insulated relationship without bridging metallic elementsthat would otherwise conduct heat or cold from the exterior panels tothe interior panels.

Other objects and advantages will become more apparent from a study ofthe description taken with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a transverse, cross-sectional view of a prefabricated,foamed-in-place insulated panel embodying the principles of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional view showing how twoadjoining panels of the identical construction shown in FIG. 1 arejoined together and attached to girts of a building; and,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing two like panels, of theconstruction shown in FIG. 1, when joined together sidewise and fastenedto girts of a building or similar frame work.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawing, numeral 1generally denotes an insulated, metal wall panel, and, moreparticularly, one containing insulating foam 4, such as polyurethanefoam which is foamed-inplace, so as to be integrally attached to aninterior metal wall panel 2 and an exterior metal wall panel 3.

The interior metal wall panel 2 is flanged at 5 along one side edge toprovide a male fastening element, also it is reversely flanged at 6along the other side edge to provide a female fastening element.

The exterior wall 3 which may be ribbed as shown or of any othersuitable shape, is reversely bent at 7 along one side edge to provide afemale fastening element. At the other side edge, it is reversely bentat 9 and provided with a flanged extension 8 to serve as a malefastening element.

It will be particularly noted that there is no continuous metallicconnection between the exterior wall panel 3 and interior wall panel 2even after like panels are joined side-by-side, as shown in FIGS. 2 and3. It will be further noted that the interior wall panel 2 is laterallyoffset with respect to exterior wall panel 3 and that an exposed portionof the foam insulation 4 occurs between female element 6 and maleelement 8, similarly between female element 7 and male element 5.Therefore, when identical wall panels of the construction shown in FIG.1 are fastened together in side-byside relationship, in the manner shownin FIGS. 2 and 3, there will still be retained the insulating barrierbetween exterior wall 3 and interior wall 2.

More specifically, and referring more particularly to FIG. 2, whenthemale fastener element 8 of one wall panel is inserted into the femalefastener element 7 of an adjoining wall panel of identical construction,with an insulating gasket such as vinyl gasket 10 therebetween, therewill be a gap containing insulation between such connection and theadjoining connection between male fastener element 5 and female fastenerelement 6. The adjoining wall panels are moved together until the sidewall portions of the exterior panels 3 come into abutting relationship,as shown in FIG. 2. However prior to moving one wall panel intoside-byside relationship to the other, a self tapping screw 11 and clip13 or similar fastening device is inserted through the interior sidewall panel portion of one panel and into girt 12 or other frameworkelement. If desired, an insulating gasket, similar to vinyl gasket 10,may be inserted between male fastening element 5 and female fasteningelement 6. With such assembly involving two detachable connections oneach side, a securely fastened connection is provided on both sides ofeach wall panel.

The present prefabricated construction involves a minimum number ofsimply constructed parts. A wall assembly may be erected very quicklyand easily with a minimum number of required fastening elements.Moreover, the joints are so arranged that the insulated wall issubstantially continuous while still retaining a separation by a mass offoamed insulation between the exterior panels 3 and interior panels 2.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a highly efficient and simplefoamed insulating wall panel of such construction that the exteriorpanels and interior panels are maintained in insulating relationshipeven when like panels are joined side-by-side with integrally formedmale and female fastening elements; furthermore, I have provided afoamed-in-place wall panel of polyurethane or similar foam materialwhich is integrally secured to exterior and interior panels to form astrong unit and in which the exterior and interior panels are offset toprovide a gap separated by foamed insulation between the respective sideedges of the exterior panels and those of the interior panels,preventing conduction of cold or hot ambient temperatures from theexterior wall panels to the interior wall panels.

While I have illustrated and described a single embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustrationonly and that various changes and modifications may be contemplated inmy invention and the following claims.

I claim:

1. An insulated wall panel unit for joining, side-byside, with a similarpanel unit, comprising a metallic interior wall panel and a metallicexterior wall panel in spaced parallel relationship, both side edges ofeach of said panels being laterally offset with respect to thecorresponding side edges of the other of said panels, insulation fillingthe gap between said panels, said insulation being bonded to saidexterior and interior metallic wall panels, one side edge of saidinterior wall panel being flanged along the side edge of the insulationand terminating in a metallic flanged portion extending outwardly beyondsaid side edge portion of the insulation to form, per se, a maleelement, the other side edge of said interior wall panel being reverselybent to form a female element in spaced alignment with said maleelement, the side edge of said exterior wall panel corresponding to saidone side edge of said interior wall panel having a reversely bentextremity for forming a female element extending immediately adjacentsaid male element but laterally offset therefrom with no continuousmetallic extensions of the panels therebetween, the other side edge ofsaid exterior wall panel terminating in a laterally outwardly extendingmetallic flange which, per se, constitutes a male element locatedimmediately adjacent but laterally offset from said female element ofsaid interior wall panel and in alignment with said female element ofsaid exterior wall panel and with no continuous metallic extensions ofthe panels therebetween, a gasket of plastic material cover- 5 joininglike panels units, side-by-side, the end forming portions of saidexterior panels will have continuous flat contact throughout thegreatest portion of the width of said panel units, and whereby both maleelements will penetrate both of the corresponding female elements, abarrier of insulation being provided between the respective adjacentmale and female elements to prevent a continuous metallic connection andtransfer of heat or cold between said interior and exterior panels ateither side of said panel units, said interior panel being fastened to aframe member of a building by screw fasteners penetrating said outermetallic wall panel and said insulation at the insulation gap betweensaid first mentioned male element and the female element of the outerwall panel.

1. An insulated wall panel unit for joining, side-by-side, with asimilar panel unit, comprising a metallic interior wall panel and ametallic exterior wall panel in spaced parallel relationship, both sideedges of each of said panels being laterally offset with respect to thecorresponding side edges of the other of said panels, insulation fillingthe gap between said panels, said insulation being bonded to saidexterior and interior metallic wall panels, one side edge of saidinterior wall panel being flanged along the side edge of the insulationand terminating in a metallic flanged portion extending outwardly beyondsaid side edge portion of the insulation to form, per se, a maleelement, the other side edge of saiD interior wall panel being reverselybent to form a female element in spaced alignment with said maleelement, the side edge of said exterior wall panel corresponding to saidone side edge of said interior wall panel having a reversely bentextremity for forming a female element extending immediately adjacentsaid male element but laterally offset therefrom with no continuousmetallic extensions of the panels therebetween, the other side edge ofsaid exterior wall panel terminating in a laterally outwardly extendingmetallic flange which, per se, constitutes a male element locatedimmediately adjacent but laterally offset from said female element ofsaid interior wall panel and in alignment with said female element ofsaid exterior wall panel and with no continuous metallic extensions ofthe panels therebetween, a gasket of plastic material covering the sidesof said male elements to provide a tight fit with the correspondingfemale elements, said male and female elements being located closer tosaid interior wall panel than to said exterior panel, whereby whenjoining like panels units, side-by-side, the end forming portions ofsaid exterior panels will have continuous flat contact throughout thegreatest portion of the width of said panel units, and whereby both maleelements will penetrate both of the corresponding female elements, abarrier of insulation being provided between the respective adjacentmale and female elements to prevent a continuous metallic connection andtransfer of heat or cold between said interior and exterior panels ateither side of said panel units, said interior panel being fastened to aframe member of a building by screw fasteners penetrating said outermetallic wall panel and said insulation at the insulation gap betweensaid first mentioned male element and the female element of the outerwall panel.